On the release date of new EP, "The Healer," there’s lots of news this week from the Helsott tribe. First comes a premiere of the band’s new promo video clip, “Astralive,” directed by Sicocis guitarist Rafael Ortega and available below.

“Filming ‘Astralive’ was a very enjoyable experience,” explains vocalist Eric Dow. “Raf was great to work with and Coop and I had fun scouting for a location in Arrowhead. We want to thank Mike Grieg for letting us set up camp.”

“I love how cold the video came out,” adds drummer Cooper Dustman. “It was actually blistering hot that day, we all got sunburns! Finding this remote spot in the mountains was adventurous considering the gps can only show so much. We scouted and shot this within a few days, and we’re proud of the final product.”

Second, Helsott is pleased to announce some upcoming tour dates, including the band’s first trip to Europe. The group will be supporting I Am Morbid (the new band from Morbid Angel’s David Vincent and Tim Yeung playing tracks from the first 4 classic Morbid Angel albums) and death metal legends Necrophagia.

“We have been working so hard to fulfill our goals,” states Eric Dow. “Taking our brand of Pagan Death Metal overseas has always been an ultimate goal for this band and now that we have the opportunity we will take full advantage of it. Europe… Helsott is finally coming! More...

June 2nd, 2017 will mark the release of Tengger Cavalry's upcoming full-length album, "Die On My Ride." Now the band is thrilled to announce that just a day after album drops, a 25+ date North American headline tour will kick off featuring support from Venezuelan world music/progressive fusion guitarist Felix Martin and pagan folk metal group Helsott.

The tour will begin in Montreal, QC on June 3rd and visits several other major Canadian and U.S. cities before coming to an end on July 8th in Manchester, NH (Helsott will appear June 18th - June 27th). See below for a full listing of dates.

Tengger Cavalry frontman Nature G states: "After so many months off the road, hours and hours of recording in the studio and many intense rehearsals, we are so excited to finally hit the road and raid with Felix Martin and Helsott! Helsott is amazing - they play European-influenced pagan folk metal, and Felix Martin is an absolutely skillful progressive-influenced metal/rock act. We're stoked to play many songs from our brand new album and also to have these awesome fellow world/folk music artists out with us!" More...

Helsott will release a new five-song EP, "The Healer," on April 28th through M-Theory Audio. The release features artwork from Felipe Machado Franco (Blind Guardian, Iced Earth) and was mixed/mastered by J-F Dagenais (Kataklysm, Ex Deo). Pre-orders are online now at this location.

As the hype builds towards street date, the band found time to get together and make a personal video giving commentary and shedding more detail about individual songs and the recording process - check it out below.

"We are very proud of this EP and invite you all on this very serious track-by-track journey of The Healer through the minds of the creators," states singer Eric Dow. More...

Helsott today premieres the first taste from forthcoming EP, "The Healer," with a lyric video for the title track created by Scott Rudd (Opeth, Aborted).

The band, whose exotic sound mixes death metal with pagan influences, recently signed with M-Theory Audio to release this five track EP on April 28th, featuring stellar artwork from Felipe Machado Franco (Blind Guardian, Iced Earth). Pre-order "The Healer" CD now at this location.

“We are proud to share the title track from our new EP via this awesome lyric video,” states singer Eric Dow. “This was a fun record to make and we look forward to hitting the road soon and playing the song live.”

California act Helsott – whose exotic sound mixes melodic death with pagan influences – has signed with M-Theory Audio Records, who will release the group's new five-song EP, "The Healer," on April 28. The cover art by Felipe Machado Franco (Blind Guardian, Iced Earth) can be seen below.

Since forming seven years ago, Helsott – whose name means “fatal illness” in Old Norse – has paid homage to pagan cultures and mythologies while keeping true to their American influences. The group's unique mix of folk metal, death metal, symphonic metal, thrash, classical and rock first caught the attention of audiences on a large scale during the 2013 Paganfest North American tour, where they performed with Ensiferum, Tyr and Trollfest. The group built further momentum the following year with the release of their debut full-length, Woven, behind which they toured alongside Arkona and Heidevolk.

Helsott now returns with "The Healer," a five-song EP recorded in part at Southern California's Trench Studios (Intronaut, Abysmal Dawn) and mixed and mastered by J-F Dagenais (Kataklysm, Ex Deo). The release spawned from the band's successful crowd-sourcing campaign to fund the recording of "Woven," when they offered to write a song about a fan who pledged a certain amount. A patron named Doc – who was indeed a doctor – took them up on their offer, and the band liked the final result so much that they decided to write and record additional new songs to be issued in conjunction. More...

Helsott are at it again! These pagan metal anti-heroes are hard at work in the studio working on their new EP titled "The Healer." The album is scheduled to be mixed and mastered by J-F Dagenais (Kataklysm/Ex Deo) at the end of October and...YOU CAN HELP!

"The Healer" is a conceptual EP based on a song written for a backer of the campaign for the band's last album "Woven."

Helsott enlisted the amazing talents of friend Kevin Storm (guitarist from Heidevolk) to design an Indiegogo exclusive t-shirt. Now is your chance to get this amazing shirt and other perks including a indiegogo exclusive bonus track! For a list of contribution perks and more information on how you can back the project, head on over the Indiegogo campaign page at this location.

American pagan metal band Helsott is proud to announce the addition of new guitarist Mike Pardi (Possessed/Draconis) to the line up for both live shows and the recording of a new album to follow 2014's "Woven."

Pardi also appeared on that album as a special guest vocalist on the track "Cessation." Vocalist Eric Dow comments on the new addition:

"We are happy to have Mike join the fold. He has worked with us in the past and we feel his dark and heavy style will fit in perfectly with us plus supporting Lt's Rhapsody and Primal Fear for their Southern CA show will be awesome! We have never shared the stage with either of those bands before so we are looking forward to tearing it up with them in San Diego!"

Helsott will be local support for Luca Turilli's Rhapsody and Primal Fear tour stop in San Diego on May 14th at Brick By Brick. More...

California pagan metal act Helsott released a new music video for the track "Agamemnon." The song appears on the upcoming release "Woven." The album's release date has been delayed and the new date has yet to be revealed, but it is targeted for this fall.

As a Metal Underground.com exclusive, California pagan metal act Helsott revealed details of the upcoming new release "Woven," the band's debut full length album and follow up to the 2012 EP "Fólkvangr," which has been re-mixed, re-mastered and included as bonus tracks on the new album. "Woven" was mixed by Roy Z and mastered by Andy Horn. The artwork (seen below) was created by Felipe Machado Franco (Blind Guardian/Brainstorm). It is set for release on July 28th.

The band announced that Indiegogo supports, who financed part of the release, should expect to receive their perks in June.

More information on Helsott can be found at the band's Official Facebook Page.

Hellsot has issued the following announcement about recruiting a new guitarist:

"We are pleased to announce that we have our new lead guitarist. Please help us welcome Dave Walston to Helsott!

"This may come as no surprise to some of you. Dave has been a long time friend and was our first choice for lead guitar a few years ago but Dave could not commit at the time. Dave is still in Monolith and has played for Battlefront and Sacrificial Slaughter. Also he has also filled in on the lead guitar position in Helsótt before so we are 100% sure he is going to be a perfect fit for us and will be melting your faces very soon...

"How soon?

"We just picked up a show at Ramona Mainstage in Ramona California for Dec. 6th. We will be sharing the stage with Nekrogoblikon for the first time. This should be an interesting show. This will be our last show of the year and our first with Dave as a permanent member so do not miss out.

"We want to give a special thanks to Mike from Draconis and Possessed for helping us out on guitar and learning our sets. He is an amazing player and person. He will be the first person we turn to if we need help in the future."

California viking metal act Helsott, the opening act of the 2013 Paganfest America tour, has launched a crowd funding campaign through Indiegogo. The band is offering various perk packages for bid levels, including the recording of a special "bidder only" song for a pledge of $500 (where the bidder pics tempo and lyrical content). The album will be the follow up to the self-released "Fólkvangr" EP that was issued in 2012.

The pit: a convergence of metal heads and outlet for built-up aggression. Everybody’s got a pit story, and each week we share the favorites from metal musicians covering the entire spectrum of the underground and the mainstream.

The following story comes from an interview at the 70,000 Tons of Metal Cruise with our own writer CROMCarl, in which Eric discusses love birds getting swept away by the sexy tunes of Helloween.

Eric: I was in the pit and they weren’t doing very much moshing or anything, but they were dancing around, having a good time. It was a pretty good crowd. All the sudden, I hear ‘Uh [in a female voice], Uh [in a male voice]’ and I turn around and some dude is fucking this chick right behind me….in the pit! I’m like what the fuck!

CROMCarl: Who was on stage at the time?

Eric: Uh, Helloween.

CROMCarl: Remember what they were playing?

Eric: Uhhhhhh… No [laughs all around]. Ugh…if I can try to remem…no. The fucking thing really fucking threw me off. No, no, no….I remember! “If I Could Fly!” Andy Deris fucked it up, I remember that. He fucked it up…I got these guys fucking behind me…Andy Deris fucked it up and he just rolled his eyes on stage like “I can’t believe I fucked up our most simple song.” That was great.

They were in the back of the pit. It’s a smaller venue and I know there was probably at least five or six people having the same “what the fuck” reaction. I’ve never seen that before…I’ve seen sex at concerts in plenty of places, but right there in a small venue in the mosh pit. You know…the lights all hitting them and shit..and nobody…the security guards were maybe twenty feet from them…didn’t do anything. I was like “alright, this is fucking Santa Ana, California.”

You can catch Helsott live on the remaining dates of the Paganfest tour this month, or find more info on the band via Facebook. Be sure to check back in again next week for more Pit Stories!

Finnish folk metal merchants Ensiferum are pleased to announce their return to North American soil as headliners of the fourth edition of Paganfest America. The band comments:

"Finally, Ensiferum will to return to North America! It's been way too long since we shared wild Paganfest nights with our brothers and sisters across the ocean. We will not come to pillage your cities alone; it's a great honor to join forces with Týr, Heidevolk, Trollfest and Helsott for this once-in-a-lifetime tour."

Ensiferum will be touring in support of the "Unsung Heroes" full-length released in North America last Fall via Spinefarm Records. The epic jaunt will commence March 30th in Denver and pillage through 21 cities and includes a slot on this year’s New England Metal & Hardcore Fest in Worcester, Massachusetts. Support on the trek will be provided by Týr, Heidevolk, Trollfest and Helsott. Dates are available below. More...

California death/thrash/folk artists Helsótt have posted the band's first music video for the track "Honour Thy Valkyrie." The song appears on the band's debut EP "Fólkvangr," which is was released by the band in July of 2012. For more information on how to obtain the EP, head on over to the band's Official Facebook Page.

Helsótt will embark on the Paganfest America tour this Spring with Ensiferum, Tyr, Heidevolk and Trollfest.

Helsott, which will be joining Ensiferum on the road for the 2013 Paganfest America tour, has checked in with the following update about a lineup change:

"We are saddened to announce the departure of Ben Mumaw from Helsótt. Ben has been forced to leave the band due to personal issues. We've had a lot of great times with Ben and we are going to miss him. We wish him the best in all future endeavors.

"We are now looking for a new male clean vocalist and a folk/traditional instrumentalist to go on Paganfest US Tour with us.

"Male Vocals: We prefer operatic vocals but also like power/prog metal, and classic rock as well. If you sing and play an instrument, that would be a plus.

Rock the Nation America is very proud to bring fans the 4th edition of Paganfest America. The lineup will include Finland's Ensiferum, along with the return of Tyr and additional support from Heidevolk, Trollfest, and Helsott. The tour is scheduled to kick off late March 2013 and will cover both the United States and Canada. Ensiferum comments:

"So finally, Ensiferum will to return to North America. It's been way too long since we shared wild Paganfest nights with our brothers and sisters across the ocean. We will not come to pillage your cities alone; it's a great honor to join forces with TYR, HEIDEVOLK and TROLLFEST for this once in a lifetime tour. See you soon folks!"

Dates for the tour are coming soon, and the tour poster can also be found below. More...